Pregnant and Resting

Wednesday, October 13, I took a pregnancy test. Well, actually I took one every two days for about a week and a half before that... but on the 13th I took one and it was POSITIVE!! See what happens when I go on a rant about infertility and what a roller coaster it is??

It is actually pretty amazing that I got pregnant this month simply because I was not on my clomid this month and I usually do not ovulate unless I am on clomid. I will admit that the ovulation issues have gotten better since I had Wren. Or at least I cycle more often than I did before getting pregnant.

I am so very excited to be pregnant. I am scared to death of having two kiddos to chase around, but excited also. I guess that fear of the unknown is okay - right?

BEDREST! That is what I am on right now. Wednesday, Oct. 20th I was over to Val's just hanging out and when I got home and went to the bathroom I saw that I was spotting. I called the doctor on Thursday and they had me come in to do an HcG level test and I will go in tomorrow and do another one. They also put me on bedrest because of my history of miscarriage. Just one little rant here: When I first called the dr's office and told the receptionist what was going on she told me "You're probably fine." HELLO! That is probably not the best thing to say to a pregnant woman who is FREAKING OUT!!!!!!! Which is what I told her, then told her I wanted to talk to Dr. Hall or his nurse... after which she apologized then put me through to the nurse :) hehe!!

Bath Time Fun

Wren loves bath time and LOVES bubbles. She thinks it is pretty funny when we put the bubbles anywhere on her. This night, dada was giving her a bath and thought she would look cute with a bubble mohawk - I would have to agree!!

Aunt Kathryn

Wren really loves her Aunt Kath! She gets pretty excited to see her all the time and sometimes walks around the house saying Thath, thath!! it is pretty funny to see! Wren loves Aunt Val also, but I don't have any recent pictures of them to put up here!

She climbed up onto the couch with Aunt THATH and just snuggled right into her, I think "thath" liked it a lot!

This is classic Wren when I tell her that it is time to go nite nite. So, whenever you need her to cuddle, just have someone ask her if it is time for nite nite!! Kathryn was having a bad day when she got to our house this day but I think she left a little happier!

Puppies

Wren is now 18 months old. I can't believe how the time has flown by. I am getting her pictures taken next week but seriously, this kid is just to cute!

She had just woken up when this picture was taken. She needs all of her "puppies" when she wakes up or when she is tired or pretty much any time of the day! All animals are puppies and sometimes even her blankie is a puppy!! I know that I should teach her what the other animals are but I just think that it is toooooo cute that she calls EVERYTHING puppy! Dolphins, cats, bunny's... everything! I really love it!

I love this girl!!

Bedroom Remodel

Jeremiah and I have been redoing the paint job in our bedroom. Since it was conference weekend I started moving stuff out on Saturday and Sunday we started painting while listening to conference. It was crazy and took way longer than I expected. The reason that we decided that we wanted to redo the room was because all of the paint in our house is warm colors and the bedroom was painted a navy blue with silver overlay on it. It just didn't seem to flow with the rest of the house and it was so hard to find bedding that really matched the color or our personalities. So, we went out and found the bedding that we wanted and painted to match. We used the money from the garage sale that we had two weekends in a row and it was about $500 for everything! sheesh, so depressing! So these are the before pictures:

and this is the after:

infertility

I just need to vent a little.

Jeremiah and I tried for 7 years to get pregnant before we received the blessing we named Wren Lorraine Martin. We are now trying to get pregnant again and I hate it. It is a terrible roller coaster ride aided with medication and lots of mood swings. I take two clomid each day which give me the symptoms of menopause - mood swings, hot flashes, night sweats... the list goes on. Then there is the metformin that I take which causes stomach issues, stomach cramps and diarrhea. Don't get me wrong, these are all things that I am happy to "deal" with most of the time but I hate month after month of waiting to see what is going to happen, am I going to get pregnant? am I going to have to continue the roller coaster? Each month I question why I don't get to be pregnant when I see people around me who are terrible parents getting pregnant, I see children going to homes where they are abused and unloved. It makes me sad and a little bit angry. Sometimes a lot bit angry! I know that I need to just be patient and realize that God has a plan for me and that I should trust in him. Before we had Wren I had a lot of anger towards God and once we finally got pregnant and it stuck (we had 4 miscarriages in those 7 years), I was grateful for the time that Jeremiah and I had to become a stronger couple and learn the things that we wanted to teach our child(ren) when we were finally blessed with them. I know that there is a process and that I will once again be grateful for the trials that I am going through when I see the bigger picture but while going through those trials it just sucks!

so like I said, just venting.

Las Vegas

HOPEFULLY I WILL ADD PICS LATER WHEN I HAVE TIME TO STEAL THEM FROM VALERIE!

My brother, Michael, and his wife, Jackie had the opportunity to go to England for 10 days the beginning of July and they asked me to come and babysit their kids for them. They have 3 girls; Audrey, Kirsten and Ava Marie (I add her middle name cause it's the same as mine!) and one little boy, Evan. Audrey is the oldest at 8 and Evan is the youngest at 3. They are good kids and very independent but coming from a one kid home it can be overwhelming. So, my solution?? To take THREE MORE KIDS!!! Valerie came with me and I was so very grateful! We flew out of Idaho Falls on June 27th. I had to ask a very nice lady if she would switch seats with me so that I could sit next to Valerie but even though she had to sit in the very last row she didn't have to sit next to any babies! The children were all surprisingly good on the airplane, Isabella sat next to me and let Wren crawl all over her trying to get to the window and then to me and then to the window and back and forth a million times!



Michael and Jackie have a pool and Wren would like to live with them for that reason alone. She would stand in the 6 inch deep portion of the pool and jump off of the ledge to me, even allowing her head to go under, over and over again all day long. She even went down the last 3 feet of the slide several time and LOVED that also. We did discover that she is allergic to sunscreen. I tried several different kinds while we were there and each one made her eyes swollen, her nose run like crazy and she even had a rash after 2 of the applications. It was very sad! The solution was quite easy actually. We swam twice a day and the first time was usually when she was still asleep in the morning (at 10 a.m.). So, she would wake up (at NOON), we would play inside for about an hour, make lunch for the kids, then put the kids down for naps (which they hated). After that, I would make her lunch and then back to bed we would go! Valerie and I were able to take naps every day that we were there! It was so very nice! After naps we would have the kids play upstairs or clean upstairs while we made dinner, then after dinner we would go and swim again. That was the perfect time for Wren to swim. The sun was not severe enough to require sunblock and most of the time she was in the shade that evening provided.



Since we were there for the 4th of July, we watched the fireworks from Mike's house. The ones from the casino down the road were very nice, but then the neighbors started setting off their crazy loud firecrackers right below us. I was very prepared to drag Wren inside screaming from being so loud but girlfriend just sat right down in my lap and started clapping! The rest of the littler kids were terrified, but not my girl! She Crazy!



I of course have to write about the TWO times Evan pooped in the hot tub (which spills over into the pool!) the first time a minimal amount of poop came out of his swim suit but the second time there were HUGE LOGS IN THERE!! This, THIS was the reason that I brought Valerie along! She climbed into the poo stew and scooped all that poo right out with a little scooper! I will call her the pooper scooper trooper! :) After the second time that this happened, I told Evan that he could not get in the pool without a swim diaper on and for two days he would not get in the pool because he did not want to wear a diaper. I finally gave in (What, he's not my kid!) and let him get in after that. It's just so hot there, I felt bad for him! Happily, he did not poop again while we were there.



One other small mention: Justin came for a couple of days that we were there and one night he let Valerie and I go see Eclipse! It was SO good and I am excited to go and see it again after I read the books again. THANKS JUSTIN!

Fun Stuff

I need to write down some of the fun things that Wren is up to lately!

She has a baby doll that Grandma Lorraine gave her for Christmas that she just discovered and oh how she LOVES it!! She picks it up like it is a real baby and pats it on the head, gives it kisses and makes sure that its "bow" is not in her eyes!!

Tonight, she started "beeping" my nose!! HAHAHA! It was toooo cute!

She likes to run away from me and have me "yell" at her to get back over to me and then she will run over and give me hugs! I love it! I am a little worried that now the only way I can get her to do anything will be to yell at her though! HA!

Sometimes she will be playing and will stop what she is doing, come over to me and give me hugs and kisses with no encouragement or askance from me. This is my all time favorite thing, it makes me feel soooo loved! She is such a cutie.

She LOVES her daddy! When he comes home she can NOT hold in her excitement! She squeals and runs to him and pretty much does not let him put her down until bedtime! It is a nice break for me and I love that she loves him so much, they are so funny! Also, if she is awake before he leaves in the morning and he is telling her to come and say goodbye to him, she will go over, give him kisses, look back at me and wave bye bye to ME! So much for being the primary caregiver, right! :)

I am sure there are more and I will remember them as soon as I post this but I really need to start remembering to write these things down, I will be sad if I forget things!

crazy girl!

Today is my cleaning and laundry day. Usually I don't get much done but today I was killing it! I got all of my laundry done, folded/ironed and PUT AWAY!!! That in itself is a feat and something that usually takes all week! I also cleaned the mats from the car, cleaned the living room, bedroom, Wren's room, the bathroom, vacuumed and made dinner! I feel so accomplished!

After I got done scrubbing the bathroom floor (which had poo on it from Wren going diaper-less because of her rash) I put the bucket inside the bathroom and closed the door to wait until the floor was dry to dump the water down the toilet. I then had to go into the bathroom to get a towel to put in the washer, left the door open and went downstairs. When I got back upstairs (about 30 seconds later) I went into the bathroom to dump the water and there was Wren, sitting in a huge puddle of water with the rag ON HER HEAD, running her hands all over her face and licking her fingers!!!! GROSS!!!!!! I really wanted to run and grab my camera, but I was a little afraid that she was going to be poisoned so instead, I put her in the bathtub and cleaned her off. What a funny baby!

Tonight I made homemade mac n' cheese, lil' smokies in bbq sauce, and beets for dinner. Can you guess what Wren loved the most?? No? the BEETS! She ate about 4 of them and would only eat the mac n'
cheese if I added a piece of beet to it!! Sooo funny!

blogging

I really need to do better with my blog, I know!  It has been raining here the last couple of days and Wren loves to watch it!  I am constantly amazed by this girl, yesterday it was thundering SO loud!  Wren was sleeping and I was sure that it was going to wake her up but nope! She slept right through it!  Also, when she was awake, it didn't faze her at all!  I love it!

We have really been loving the warmer weather.  Wren LOVES to be outside.  My mom let us borrow a small "car" that has a handle on it for me to push and that girl screams when I take her out of it!  I need to get a video of her in it.  She would rather ride in that car than do anything else, including EAT! 

Girlfriend has gotten a lot better at walking, she now prefers to do that over crawling.  There is a lot of falling involved, but she is persistent. 

We went and got Wren's 1 year old pictures taken by my cousin, Melissa (http://www.melissabelnapphotography.blogspot.com/) and here is a fun sampling of what she did, they are all so cute and she was sooooo good

She has had a really bad diaper rash lately and it makes me so sad!  The other night she woke up at least 6 times and just wanted to be held.  It was sweet, but sad!  Every time she would poop (which was a lot and probably the reason for the rash) she would cry and try to run away from her bum!  She would also cover her mouth with her hand while crying, which really hurt my heart but also made me smile.  She is getting so big and developing such a big personality!  We love her so much and are so grateful for her in our lives!

Happy Birthday Wren!

Wow, I cannot believe that Wren is already one!! This year has been so wonderful and such a blessing to Jeremiah and I. Wren fills our lives with joy and home with laughter! It is so much fun to have her around, to watch her discover the world around her and to be loved by her.

Wren has started walking and it is soooo cute! We tried to "force" her to do it for so long and then one day, I was folding clothes on the floor and she just walked right past me, over to a toy, sat down and started playing with it!

She loves to play with all things that go in her hair, or MINE! She is always taking my headbands off and putting them on her head - I call them her pretties and she gets the biggest smiles when she accomplishes the feat of getting them to stay on her head!

Wren still loves Grandma Aldridge A LOT and even though she is becoming a BIG momma's girl she does like to give kisses to the people she "hangs" with!

She does NOT like to share her toys and will grab them away from any other child who is near! And in fact thinks that ALL toys that she can see belong to her!

She still loves the bathtub and being in a pool. She can spend hours in the water and be happy as a clam! :)

All in all, we LOVE THIS BABY!!!

Groundhog Day...

Earlier today, Jeremiah and I were talking about what we did today and I told him that sometimes I feel like I am in that movie, Groundhog Day. Don't get me wrong, I completely enjoy being a mom and everything that goes along with that but there are times that it gets super monotonous and the routine that is necessary to stay sane sometimes drives me to insanity!

For instance, most days this is what my day looks like: I get Wren up, change her diaper, feed her, play with her, feed her, put her down to sleep, clean up her toys, get ready for the day then do laundry/dishes/clean the house, get Wren up, change her diaper, feed her, play with her, feed her, put her down to sleep, clean up her toys, get dinner started then do laundry/dishes/clean the house, get Wren up, change her diaper, feed her, play with her (usually this is when Jeremiah gets home and I can have some me time to relax and take a bath or read a book or check my email!), feed her and put her to bed. Then I have to turn my brain off and try to sleep but it usually takes several hours for me to unwind enough to get to sleep and sometimes end up falling asleep on the couch and waking up later to go to the bedroom.

Now, please don't think that I am complaining about any of this. I am just observing that this is the way that my life is "organized" right now. I love Wren and love that I get to stay at home and be a mom to her. I love Jeremiah and the effort that he puts in to being a great dad, husband and provider for us. He is so busy with work and school but always finds time to make sure that his girls know that he loves them. It is so cute to see how much Wren loves her daddy and the other way around. I hope that never changes and that they always have a special relationship and bond.

TAGGED!

Eight things I am passionate about:
Jeremiah

Wren

Family

Truth

Reading

the Gospel

Bows Bows Bows

Grammar ;)

Eight words or phrases I use the most:

Really?

Your Mom

Wren Wren

Hilarious

Wren - NO NO

I love you

Give me kisses!

seriously?

Eight things I want to do before I die:

Start going to bed at a decent hour!

Have more babies

Raise a happy family

Run a marathon (but don't tell VAL!)

Do a LOT of traveling

Be independently Wealthy

Learn to Love Camping

Have a Prosperous Garden

Eight places I want to visit:

Australia

Mexico

Hawaii (again)

New York

Florida (again)

Alaska

Ireland

DISNEYLAND (LOTS)

Eight favorite restaurants:

Carino's

Cafe Rio

Bajio

PF Changs

El Fenix

Cantina Laredo

Taco Delite

anywhere with GOOD Prime Rib

Eight TV shows I watch:

LOST

Friends

Desperate Housewifes

Private Practice

Greys Anatomy

The Middle

The Bachelor

Dancing with the Stars

Eighth folder Eighth picture:

EIGHT PEOPLE THAT I TAG:

LAURA

KATE

CHELSEA

BECKY

SHALON

MELISSA

RINDEE

CLANCY

bye bye....

Some new things that Wren is doing.....

Wren is soooo cute and is developing such a cute personality. She really thinks that everything she does is hilarious and laughs at herself all the time. When she gets tired she will lay down on the floor and then pop her head up, look at us and laugh. When it is time to go to bed or sometimes if we ask her to, she will wave byebye! I love it!! It has to be one of my favorite things so far! I am not sure if I have posted this, but she started crawling the week before Christmas. Now she is just into everything. I have had to tie the cupboards shut because she likes to open the one under the sink and try to eat everything under there. GROSS! So, until Jeremiah can get the baby-proofing done in the kitchen, we are using ribbon!

Jeremiah has started his new job at Regis as of today. He is the manager and is really excited about it. I am happy that he no longer "has" to work on the farm but am sad that he is having to work 40 hours a week :( that means that combined with his two days that he goes to school he will be working the other 5 days of the week. That sucks! Hence the ribbon in the kitchen~

Life has been really good for us lately, we reconnected with some old friends this last weekend and it was nice to visit with them and see their little girl, she is a charmer! We will have to plan to do something else with them soon (hint hint wink wink!).

a few of my favorite things....

Just thinking.... and these are some of the things that I love:

When Wren giggles or gets really excited and flaps her arms and legs.
When Jeremiah is happy and when he flirts with me.
Having someone (sometimes more than one!)who can finish my sentences and who gets my inside jokes.
When it is dark and snowing outside and I get to be inside watching it come down I feel like the only person in the world but safe and comfy.
A really good thunder/lightening storm with lots of rain.
Lightening bugs!! I haven't seen them since I lived in Arkansas and I miss them!
Getting lost in a good book.
Having a clean house and having the laundry all clean and put away.
Spending time with my family.
Connecting with old friends and hanging with new ones.

That is just a few of my favorites....

Our Christmas Tree

This is our Christmas Tree this year. Wren really loved the lights and there were a couple of incidents that she got into trouble for trying to pull the whole thing down on her but it went better than I had expected it to so I can't complain!

Daddy and her girl!

Wren really loves Jeremiah!! It is so cute and he is such a good daddy! He feeds her, changes diapers - even when they are poop - bathes her, puts her to bed, plays with her and too many other things to even list. I am so grateful for him and all the things that he does not just with Wren but for me also. He is the best part of me and brings out the best in me.



I love you babe - and baby!

Sleeping Baby

I love sleeping babies....

I especially love these because her bootie is in the air!!! So stinkin' cute!

I hate that my camera does not focus well when it is dark but the pictures were just too precious not to post!

learing to crawl

Since Wren has learned how to crawl her 'world' has got so much bigger! One night she scooted herself right under the couch!


It started out to be so funny because we were laughing at her....

Then she decided that since she couldn't use her legs to push herself out it was NOT funny!

Wren being a cheeser!

I pulled out my camera to look at what pictures were on it the other day and as soon as Wren saw it this was her reaction!!

I think that she knows what it is used for! :)

still no pictures

I guess that a post with no pictures is better than no post at all! I will have to add pictures later! Wren is now 9 months old and I don't know where the time has gone! She is such a cutie pie and we love her so much!! She has finally learned how to crawl and she is so BUSY! always on the move and always getting into things!! She loves the vacuum and LOVES to bathe!! She has figured out that she can move around in the bathtub also and thinks that is pretty awesome! the one thing that she does not like is that she cannot pull herself to a standing position while in the tub! Every time she tries it she falls and then she is soooo angry yet she tries it every time she is in the tub! It is pretty cute I think! Christmas was a lot of fun but I am glad that it is over! We spent several days before Christmas Day going over to moms so that we could clean and organize so that there would be room for all of us to stay there. All of the kids were there and because Grandma Aldridge got sick, she ended up spending Christmas with us instead of going up to Montana to spend the holidays with the Hogge's. All of the kids that live in town except for Scott spent Christmas Eve at mom and dad's and Drew and Jaxon were up at 3 a.m. to see if Santa Claus had arrived! Boy had he ever!!! Everyone else got up at 8 a.m. and after some wait, we finally started opening presents. Jeremiah and I had decided that we were not going to do anything for each other this year and thankfully I had purchased stuff for Wren while I was in Disneyland and Black Friday 2008. The only things that we bought for her this year were 2 Little Einstein video's a Yo Gabba Gabba video and some pajamas. It was fun for us to be able to wrap presents for her and put "TO: Wren FROM: Mom and Dad". We then stayed there all the next week until 1/2/10!!! We are CRAZY!!! It was fun and sometimes stressful but it was nice to be around family and play games, have conversation and just BE together!
I was sick on Christmas Day and Wren got a little sick while we were at moms and Jeremiah got sick the day before we came home! He is still not feeling well and has not been to work this week because he has been feeling so terrible. Other than that, life has been great and we have been able to get all of our Christmas stuff put up, the laundry done and put away and the living room back to normal. Now I just need to work on the kitchen and bathroom and I will feel really great about life!